- So today I've got
some very exciting news. After being with Keller Williams Realty for the past five years, I've now made the transition into a newer next-gen brokerage. And that brokerage is Real. And I really do think that next gen accurately describes Real's business model especially when you
compare it to these other old-school brokerages
such as Keller Williams, Re/max, Century 21 which were really big
hits in 1980s and nineties but fundamentally have not
changed their way of operating and their business models, since the advent of the internet. In contrast Real is a technology-driven cloud-based brokerage that is partially owned
by the real estate agents in the brokerage. And this is a huge departure
from the traditional, old-school brokerage business model. And it offers huge advantages
to myself and my clients. So today I want to go
over the exact reasons why I made the decision
to transition my business from this old-school brokerage model, to a next-gen brokerage model and go over the advantages that myself, my team and my clients receive from me being at this new brokerage. And if you stay tuned
until the end of the video, I've got a very special offer for you, if you want to learn more
about this next-gen brokerage. So first let's talk about
what I mean by next gen. So obviously the advent of the internet has changed our society and the business models within
our society, tremendously. You look at movie rentals for example, you have old-school business
models like Blockbuster that have been replaced by new-school, next-gen business models
like Netflix and Amazon Prime and Disney Plus, which
are far more convenient for the consumer. You have old-school brick
and mortar retail stores that have been replaced with more convenient
options for the consumer, in the form of Amazon
and Wayfair and Etsy. The music industry has gone
from selling us physical copies of CDs in retail stores, that probably only had
one or two songs on them that we liked anyway. To now we can stream
any song that you want, anywhere we want it, at any time. So virtually every single
industry in our society is producing better consumer experiences by embracing technology and fundamentally changing
their business models, all around that technology. Every industry, except for one and that is the real
estate brokerage model, which fundamentally has not
changed since the 1980s, like literally when "Alf"
and "Knight Rider" was on TV. Now I will say that our
industry has begrudgingly adopted some technology, right? The average agent has a
cell phone and has a website and they think that
they're pretty tech savvy because they have those things. But that underlying business model between the brokerage and
their relationship to the agent has not fundamentally changed, until now. So let's take a step back for a second and just compare the old
school brokerage model than most brokerages that you
can name probably embrace: Keller Williams, Re/max, Century 21. And compare that to the business model the next generation
brokerages embrace, like Real. So with the old school
traditional brokerage model essentially somebody gets
their broker's license and then they rent out
a large office space and they charge real estate agents like myself to join underneath of them. And in exchange they give us training. We get access to the office
space and the conference rooms. They usually throw holiday parties and give us a birthday card once a year. And they make dubious claims about how us being associated with them is gonna increase our credibility and lead to us getting more clients. And this fundamental model has
not changed since the 1980s. So I've been part of two
different Keller-Williams brokerages in the last five years. And I've paid up to $28,000 a year for the privilege to be part
of one of these brokerages and up to $500 a month or $6,000 a year for my own office within these brokerages. So that's $34,000 a year. And eventually I had to ask myself, is this worth, is the
value that I'm getting from these brokerages
a worth $34,000 a year? And the answer to that
is a hard no, like nope. Not even close. No fricking way. So let's break down what
is the value proposition that they claim that they have, that they think is worth so much money. So a big one is that they claim they're going to give you free training on how to be a successful
real estate agent how to write contracts, how not to get into legal trouble. And I'm sure back in the 1980s, watching a slide show in a conference room was the only real source of training, that a lot of real estate agents got. But today there's literally
more free training on YouTube for real estate agents than I could consume
in an entire lifetime. And much of that training
is of much higher quality than I ever did receive
at any of my brokerages. So that value proposition
that the brokerage is making about giving us free
training really does not have much value in my books. So another value
proposition that they claim is that we have access
to their office space and conference rooms. Where we can meet our clients. But if 2020 is taught us anything, it's that we don't need
to physically meet people in person anymore. I've gone an entire year now
without meeting a single client at my brokerage and my
business is doing just fine. My clients are perfectly happy. We've all adapted now. And now I just do a one to two video calls with my clients a week. And many of them find
it much more convenient than actually driving to
my brokerage to meet me. And as an agent, everything I do these
days is digital, anyway. From writing contracts, to our listings, to communicating with our clients. All I need is a laptop and my cell phone and I can literally work anywhere. So once again, that value proposition of having conference
rooms in a physical office just doesn't have much value to me. So let's take a look at
their last big claim of value and that is being associated with one of
these big national brands: Keller Williams Realty,
Re/max, Century 21. And I have to ask myself, does
this actually add any value any credibility to myself or my brand? And the answer is no. I really don't think so. In 2021 that little logo in
the corner of my business card has practically no impact
on my clients, whatsoever. When you're trying to pick out a real estate agent to work with. I think some of the
most important qualities that you want to look for
is how hardworking are they? How good are their communication skills and how knowledgeable are they. What the brand or logo is in the corner of the business card, really is not that relevant at all. As a quick side note, I've always hated introducing myself as Malcolm Lawson with Keller Williams. It's just too many names,
it's kind of confusing. And I've literally had people
ask me who is Keller Williams not understanding that it's not a person, it's actually a business. So I am not upset about
losing that at all. And I think saying, "Hey I'm
Malcolm Lawson with Real", sounds much better. So next, let's take a look at what a next-gen
brokerage model, like Real actually looks like. So probably my favorite part of the Real brokerage business model is that I can be a part owner
of the business, as well, by owning stock in the company. And this is a huge departure from the Keller Williams business model. Which is not a publicly traded company and owned entirely by Gary
Keller, who is a billionaire. And I love the idea of being
part owner in a business that I am promoting and marketing through my videos through my listings
and through my clients. And Real actually wants us to be owners in the business as well. There's several different ways
that I can earn free stock in my company from Real by
hitting certain milestones in my own business. And this makes me super excited to be a successful real estate agent and promote the company
that I am part owner in And Real's also a very
technology driven company and integrates a lot of
the latest technology into their business and helps
us agents integrate a lot of this technology into
our business as well. Now truthfully, a lot of these advantages are in the backend. So how I write my contract. How I get my clients to
digitally sign those contracts. How I submit my contracts to
my brokerage to review them. But being somebody who's pretty tech savvy I love seeing a company
fully embrace technology and the advantages that come
along with that technology. And once again, this is leading to me providing a better
experience to my own clients. Which is pretty nice. Now, Real is a cloud-based brokerage. And this means that they
don't have that overhead cost of having multiple
brick and mortar offices all over the country. And they pass that
savings on to us agents. So instead of me spending
$34,000 a year to have an office within my brokerage, with Real I only need
to spend $12,000 a year to be part of this brokerage. That's a savings of $22,000
a year, which is huge. And that allows me to
reinvest that money back into my business. So I can invest that money
back into better marketing for my listings. I can invest that money into an assistant to provide better
experiences to my clients. I can invest that money into better and more exclusive training for myself. So I become more
knowledgeable for my clients. My business and my clients
experiences benefit tremendously by me reducing this huge overhead cost of being with a traditional
old-school brokerage. And I think that reducing
this huge overhead cost also makes Real a much
more approachable brokerage for somebody who's just
getting into the industry or maybe getting their real
estate license as a second job. So here's that special offer I mentioned at the beginning of the video. If you are a real estate
agent or you're thinking about getting your real estate license, I'd love to hop on a video call with you and talk to you about some of the benefits of partnering with Real or
answer some of your questions about being a real estate agent or just mastermind in general. I can also go over some detail that I kind of glossed over in this video, like the four different ways
that you can earn free stock in the Real brokerage
by being a Real agent and how you can benefit
from a revenue share. So if you want to have a conversation or you have any questions
whatsoever about this brokerage send me an email at
malcolm@livinginmaryland.com. I also have a link down below. Where you can learn much more about the benefits of joining Real and goes over a lot more of the numbers I kind of glossed over in this video. If you want to watch more videos about the benefits of joining Real, check out this playlist
I put together right here and don't forget to email me at malcolm@livinginmaryland.com. If you want to set up
a video call with me, we're gonna talk about the
benefits to your business from joining Real or how to
get your real estate license or really mastermind
about whatever you like. Thanks so much for watching. And I look forward to hearing from you.
